In 1596 it wis recordit as haein a population o 127 Muslim families, an paid taxes on wheat, barley, olives, goats an bee-hives.[5] In 1931 the population wis coontit as 4,034 Muslims.[6] The day, some Palestinian-Arab residents believe they oreeginate frae the Jewish kinrick o Khaybar in the sooth-wastren Arabie Peninsulae an are descendit frae the Jewish tribes o Arabie.[7] Research by Yitzhak Ben Zvi in 1928 also suggested that three out of the six extended families in Yatta belonged to the "Mehamra" group and possibly descended from an Arabian Jewish tribe.[4]